Sheet-feeding apparatus.



f'. W. VICKERY. SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS. APPLIUATION num nu. 1a, 1910.

Patented July 4, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

fz ve n :6011 ederc'ch M Vl'cgfy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK WILLIAM VICKERY, 0F LONDON, ENGLAND.

SHEET-FEEDING APPARATUS.

osmoeo.

fo all 11i/1 om it muy concern.'

lio it known that I, Flu-:oracion Winnmni Vitamin', a. subject of theKing ol (li-eat liritain, residing at London, England, have inventedcertain new and useful ImprovenienteI in Sheet-lleialing Apparatus, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to insure that the most :ulvancedsheet of a bank or pile of paper in sheet feedii'lg and other apparatus.shall always be in a given position for engagement by the grippers orother removingl devices. 'l`o facilitate description I will describe itas applying to a pile of paper in a banked ont or fanned ont condition.Such bank is placed on conveyers, preferably of the endless band typeand in the position it is required that the front lay edge of the sheetshould be.

My invention will be clearly understood from the following descriptionaided by the annexed drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation ofthe appliances forming my invention, such appliances being in theposition occupied just revious to their operation. Fig. 2 is a similitrview to Fig. 1 but with the appliances in the position they occupya'fter the first operation. Fig. 3 is a plan of an apparatus with twosets of appliances in position.

For the purpose of my invention I position a bell crank lever 1, or itsequivalent, having the end of the arm 2 formed as a pawl for engagementwith a vstationary ratchet, rack 3 or its equivalent, preferably in thesame plane as, or parallel With the paper and aflixed to the feed board4, such bell crank lever being pivotally carried by 4o .one arm 5 of asecond bell crank lever fixed to a shaft G, the other arm 7 having itsfree end provided with a roller in engagement with a cam 8 fixed to adriving shaft 9. The shaft 6 is free in its bearings and the arm 5 has aspring 11 connecting it With a rod 12 on the frame of the apparatus orto some other fixture. On the shaft 6 is also fixed a lever 13 carryingat its free end a loosely pivoted arm 14 having a tooth 15 which engagesthe peripheral 'teeth '.16 of a ratchet 17. Said ratchet is secured tothe shaft 18 of the end rollers 19 of the conveyer, these rollers` inconjunction with the front rollers 20, carrying the tapes 21 for feedingthe bank of paper so that the top sheetwill always occupy a givenposition, hereinafter Specification of Letters Patent.

Application tiled March 1B,

Patented J nl), 4, HPI I.

1910. Serial No. 550,110.

specified, previous lo being engaged by the removingl devices.

The tapes 2l pass over the end of the (able or feed hoard 4 and throughholes 22 and then lnnfler the table as will be uiiderstood from thc(,lrawings'so thatl the end of the table or .feed board will beperfectly smooth. 'lhe driving shaft t) also carriesa cam 23 which hasaction on the roller 24 mounted on the free end of one arm of a pivotedbell crank lever A5 the other arm of which is provided at its free endwith teeth 2G which mesh with the teeth 27 on a pivoted presser foot 2Swhich is employed for engaging the top .sheet of paper as hereafterexplained.

29 is a connterbalance on the bell crank lever 1, the arm 2 of which innormal condition rests upon the stop 30 on the lever 5, the arm 2 beingonly slightly heavier than the connterbalance 29.

Motion may be imparted to the shaft G and lever 25 by mechanism otherthan cams.

ny device for removing the top sheet of the pile after it has beenplaced in a position where it can be engaged by such device may beemployed, as for instance a gripper, suction devices, or other liftingand removing appliances, and the sheets as removed may be passed to andbetween rollers 31 for conveyance by belt 32 to a printing or othermachine in a manner Well known.

IVIien a small sheet only is being fed I may only employ one set of myappliances, but when large Sheets of paper are to be fed, or two sheetsside by side of different thicknesses, I employ two or more sets,preferably tWo as shown in Fig. 3 in which case there is only onedriving shaft 9, but the shaft 6 is made in two parts, one being solidand the other in the form of a sleeve 6a encircling the shaft 6 buthaving an independent motion altogether and also I employ two separatesets of conveyer tapes. The shafts 6, 6, are caused to act independentlyso that should a sheet not be in such position with regard to the pilethat it can be moved to the given position in a straight line, one lever5 will have a greater travel than the other and in consequence the sheetcan be properly positioned at the completion of the movement of the cams8.

I Will describe the operation of one set of appliances. Now supposingthe appliances be in the position they occupy in Fig. 1 and the sheetsof paper 33 in a spaced out or banked condition lying on the conveyorsand the presser foot 28 catching hold or lying on the front edge of thetop sheet. The cams 8 and 23 are n'ioving in the direction ot' the arrowbut all other appliances are at rest; so soon as the roller end of thearm T just passes the nose :S14 of the cam 8, the spring 11 pulls overthe lever formed by said arms 5 and 7 and in so doing moves the bellcrank lever 1 'with it, the arm 1() moving toward the lop sheet of paperheld by the presser foot 28 and so soon as the arm 10 comes in contactwith the edge of the top sheet of paper' it is arrested and the bellcrank lever 1 moves about its pivot and causes the arm 2 to position itsend in the teeth of the rack 3 and thus prevent further movement of thesaid lever arms 5 and 7. At the same time the lever 13 has also movedand the tooth 15 of the arm 14 hasI moved over the ratchet teeth 1G ofthe wheel 17 and repositioned itself therein. Just at, or after thefinish of these movements the roller 24 on the end of the main arm ofthe lever 25 is riding over the nose of the cam `23 and the rocking ofsaid lever causes the teeth 2G on its other arm to move the presser foot28 free of the top sheet of paper as will be understood from Fig. 2. Thearm 28 is kept in this position While in contact with the circular edgeof the cam and during the next described movements. The top sheet ofpaper is nov7 ready for being brought into position for engagement bythe removing devices, and this is effected When the nose 36 of the cam 8actuates the lever arm 7 and brings it and also the.arms 5 and 13 back,putting tension on the spring 11; at the same time the arm 14 revolvesthe conveyer rollers 19 and brings the Whole pile of papel' along, thearm 10 of the bell crank lever 1 moving in unison with the edge of thetop sheet and touching it and When the roller end of the arm 7 haspassed onto the circular edge of the cam 8 the movement is stopped andthe top sheet has been placed at the required position, ready for beinglifted and taken' away to the printing or other machine in perfectregister. The ends of the arm 7 and the main arm of lever 25 are on thecircular portions of their respective cams and the lifting and removalof the top sheet of the pile takes place, and after this the roller 24of the end 0f the said main arm of lever 25 rides over the nose 37,whereupon the said main arm Will drop and the teeth on the other arm oflever 25 Will cause the presser foot 28 to fold over on to the now topsheet of the pile and hold same for a repetition of the above describedoperations.

It will be seen that the lever arm 7 and bell crank lever 1 are capableof traveling the full stroke allowed by the cam 8 provided that saidbell crank lever 1 does not meet any obstacle to cause the pawl to comeinto contact with the rack il, and when the bell crank lever comes incontact with the sheet edge, the latter then acts as a stop, the leverrocking slightly, bringing the pawl into engagement with the rack whichprevents any further forward movement.

It. will be seen that if the lengths of the various lever arms and thediameter of the wheels are right, the ratchet wheel pawl will beadvanced as many teeth on wheel 1,7 as the pawl end of arm 2 of the bellcrank lever 1 has advanced teeth on rack 3, and when the shaft (3 isreversed, the conveyers bring the paper forward a distance equal. to thedistance the lever 1 has had to travel to meet the top sheet. I providethe pressure foot or feet to press down on to the paper at about thetime the lever l advances to meet the edge of the sheet', so that thereis no possibility of the sheet of paper however thin or weak beingcrumpled or injured, but 1 could get the same results by directing acurrent of air on to the sheet to keep it flat. It is possible by theuse of this mechanism to get the front edge of the most advanced sheetinto its correct position before the removing mechanism attempts tooperate upon it. For large sheets of paper, or two sheets side by side,I use tivo or more of those bell crank levers and one on each side, asat Fig. 3, and I make my conveying mechanism to Work each sideindependent of the other so that in case one side of the sheet isadvanced farther than the other side, the fault will be corrected byadvancing the conveyers on one side more than those on the other side.

lVhat I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patentis :d

1. In a sheet feeding apparatus, the combination, with a conveyer; of adrive shaft; a rock shaft; a pair of levers secured to the rock shaft; amember secured to the drive shaft and arranged to engage one of saidlevers for periodically rocking the secondnamed shaft in one direction;connections between the other lever and the eonveyer for advancing thelatter during the movement of the second-named shaft; and meansconnected to one of said levers for rocking said second-named shaft inthe opposite direction at the termination of such movement.

2. In a sheet feeding apparatus, the combination, with a conveyer; of adrive shaft; a rock shaft; a bell crank lever secured to the rock shaft;a cam secured to the drive shaft and engaged with one arm of said bellcrank lever for rocking the same in one direction; a second leversecured to said rock shaft; connections between the second lever and theconveyer for advancing the latter during the rocking movement of saidbell crank lever; means connected to one of said levers for returningboth levers to their illitial position at the terlnillation of sllcllmovement; and means carried by the otller arlll of said bell crank leverfor alltonlati cally terlllillatillg,r such l'ellllfn n'lovenlellt.

3. l'n a sheet feedingl apparatus, the combination, with a conveyor; ofa dl'ive shaft; a. roe-k shaft; a bell crank lever secured to the rockshaft.; a cam secured to the drive shaft and engaged with one arm ofsaid lever for rocking the same in olle directiol'l; connect-ionsbetween said rock shaft and the conveyer for advancing' the latterduring the rocking movement of said bell crank lever; means connected tothe other arm of said bell crank lever .for rocking the salue in theopposite direction, at', the termination of the first-named lnovell'lentthereof; and means carried by the said other arm for auto maticallyterminating the second named movelnellt of said bell crank lever.

4. ln a sheet feeding apparatus, the combination, with a convcyer; of adrive shaft: a rock shaft, a bell crank lever secured to the rock shaft;a cam secured to the drive shaft and engaged with one arln of said leverfor rocking the same in one direction; connections between said rockshaft and the conveyer for advancing the latter during the rockingmovement of said bell crank lever; means connected to the other arm ofsaid bell crank lever for rocking the same in the opposite direction, atthe termination of the rst-named movement thereof; and a member carriedby the said other armand arranged to engage the foremost sheet duringthe second -named movement of the bell crank lever for automaticallyterminating such movement.

5. In a sheet feeding apparatus, the combination, with a feed table, anda conveyer movable thereacross; of a drive shaft; a rock shaft; a bellcrank lever secured to the rock shaft; a cam secured to the drive shaftand engaged With one arm of said lever for rocking the same in onedirection; connections between said rock shaft and Said conveyer foradvancing the latter during the movement of sad bell crank; meansconnected to the other arm of said bell crank lever for rocking the samein the opposite direction at the termination of the firstnamed movementthereof; a toothed member secured to said table; and means connected tosaid other arm and arranged to engage said member at a predeterminedpoint in the second-named movement of said bell crank lever forautomatically terminating such movement.

6. In a sheet feeding apparatus, the combination, with a feed table, anda conveyer movable thereover; of a rock shaft; a lever secured thereto;means for rocking said lever in one direction; connections between saidshaft and said conveyer for advancing the latter during the lllovenlelltof said lever; means connected to said lever for alltolllalicallyreturning it to its initial positioll at the completion of suchmovement; a toothed member secured to said table; alld means connectedto said level' and arranged to el'lgage said member at a. predeterminedpoint ill said return movement for automatically terminating' sllellll'lovelllellt.

lll a sheet feeding apparatus, the combination, with a feed table, and aconveyer lnovable tliereovel';, of a l'oek shaft; a lever securedthereto; means for rocking said level' in one direetiol'l; connectionsbetween said shaft alld said conveyor for advancing the latter duringthe movement of said lever; means connected to said level' forautolllatieally returning it to its initial position at the completionof such movement; a toothed member secured to said table; and a memberpivoted to said level' and arranged to engage said toothed lnenlber at apredetermined point in said return movement for automaticallyterminating such movement.

8. In a sheet feeding apparatus, the combination, with a feed table, anda conveyer movable tbereover; of a rock shaft; a lever secured thereto;means for rocking said level; in one direction; connections between thesaidsllaft and said conveyer for advancing the latter during themovement of said lever; means connected to said lever for automaticallyreturning it to its initial position at the completion of such movement;a toothed member secured to said table; and' a bell crank lever pivotedto the first-named lever and having one arm thereof adapted to strikeagainst the edge of the foremost sheet at a predetermined point in saidreturn movement, to bring its other arm into engagement with saidtoothed member, for automatically terminating such return movement.

9. In a sheet feeding a paratus, the combination, with a feed tab e, anda conveyer movable thereacross; of a rock shaft; a bel] crank leversecured thereto; a drive shaft provided Wit-h a cam enga ing one arm ofsaid bell crank lever for roc (ing the same in one direction;connections between said rock shaft and said conveyer for advancing thelatter during the movement of said bell crank lever; means connected tothe other arln of said bell crank lever for returning the same to itsinitial position at the completion of the first-named movement; atoothed member secured to said table; and a bell crank lever pivoted tothe said other arm of the first-named bell crank lever and having onearm adapted to strike against the edge of the foremost sheet at apredetermined point in said return movement, to bring its other arm intoengagement with said toothed member, for automatically terminating suchreturn movement.

10. In a sheet feeding apparatus, the cornbination, with a feed table,and a conveyer movable thereaeross; of a rock shaft; a pair ot' leverssecured thereto; a drive shaft; connections between the drive shaft andone of said levers 'for turnin,f ,lr the rook shaft in one direct-ion;connections between the other lever and the eonveyer for advancing thelatter during' the movement of said roel; shaft in sueh direction;i'neans connected to one of said leversl for turning said rock Shaft inthe opposite direction; a presser foot adapted to engage the foremostsheet; and eonneetions between said drive shaft and the presser foot formoving said presser foot into inoperative position substantially at thecompletion of one movement of said rock shaft, and into operativeposition substantiall)7 at: the completion of the other movement of saidrook shaft.

11. In a sheet feedingbl apparatus, the Colnbination, with a eonveyer;of a drive shaft; connections between said shaft and said conveyer forperiodically operating the latter; a pivotally-monnted bell crank lever;a

presser foot operativen1 connected with one arm of said level.' andadapted to engage the foren'lost sheet; and connections between saidshaft and the other arm of said lever' for periodically operating saidpresser foot.

l2. ln a sheet feeding apparatus, the Colnbination, with a eonveyer; ofa drive shaft; eonneet ions between Said shaft and Said conveyerfor,periodieally oljierating the latter; a pivotalily-mounted bell cranklever having one of its arms provided with a series of teeth; a presserfoot adapted to engage the foremost sheet, said presser foot beingformed with a series of teeth meshing with the teeth on said arm; and acam secured to said shaft and engaging the other arm of said level' forperiodically operating said presser foot.

ln testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK WILLIAM VICKERY. Witnesses z VM. F. BRUDER, FRED L. HorKINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

